Val Thevictorian Is the New PigPen, and That's NOT Dirt Surrounding Her

Some people just go about their daily business, and things are drawn to them. Like Charlie Brown's pal PigPen and his dirt cloud. Or perhaps Hick, with his bargains. With Val, it's LUCK.

Tuesday afternoon, I was sitting at the kitchen table with HIPPIE, waiting for time to pass, and the drenching rains of the remnants of Texas hurricane Beryl to clear on out. The radar looked like that might happen around 4:00. I was in no hurry. Just finishing up my usual internet activities, getting ready for a nap on our new $200 mattress, then a shower, and hopefully a dry trip to town.

As I closed out HIPPIE's open windows, I heard an email come in on my phone. Probably more scammers, like the one from AARP who calls me Gloria, and says my credit card is automatically being charged for a year's membership, listing a credit card number that's not mine, and providing a convenient link if I want to update my information, or opt out of this action. Heh, heh! Not today, AARP!

Anyhoo... in checking my phone, I saw that this newest email was from PROMOTIONS. Huh. Likely another scam. When I opened it to see the entity wanting to promote me, I saw this:

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Missouri Lottery Choose Your Dream Adventure: Weekly Cash Drawings Winner

Val,

Congratulations! You have won a prize in the Choose Your Dream Adventure: Weekly Cash Drawings Promotion!

All the details can be found in your My Lottery Players Club account. To view, log into your account... blah blah blah.

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Well! This seemed legit (though I get scammy notices for winning sometimes, also to GLORIA, from some lottery in the UK). Indeed, MOLottery has such a "Choose Your Dream" contest running this summer. 

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CHOOSE YOUR DREAM ADVENTURE: WEEKLY CASH DRAWINGS

Each week during the promotion, the Missouri Lottery will award 50 winners $300 cash. 

The weekly cash drawings will include all eligible tickets submitted during a given week. Players will receive one entry for every dollar’s worth of tickets submitted (For example, a $5 ticket equals five entries into the Choose Your Dream Adventure drawing). Entries from the weekly drawings will not carry over from week to week. However, these entries will count toward their $10 requirement into their choice of Dream Vacation or Dream Green drawings. 

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I don't normally scan in my tickets these days, because the app is woefully hard to navigate, and time-consuming. They no longer have prizes you can purchase with accumulated points. Only electronic subscriptions, or gift cards. However, I DO enter big tickets such as when The Pony saves up and gets a $50 ticket, or when I celebrate a big win by taking a chance on a $30. There is a different contest for those big tickets, with three drawings a year. I've always told The Pony that I would split any such winnings with him 50/50, since he plays the big tickets occasionally, and gives them to me for scanning.

Anyhoo... I fired HIPPIE up again, to go to the MOLottery website, log in, and check this out. My account DID show that I was a winner in the latest weekly drawing. That's $300 !!! Just for scanning in tickets (which can be winners or losers). Of course, I will be giving The Pony half of it. 

In reading all the requirements, it seems that MOLottery notifies winners by email, and by regular mail, at the addresses they have listed in their account information. I will have to fill out and return a promotional form, and then MOLottery will mail me a check. Sounds like the procedure when I have to claim a big winner at the lottery office.

So, in case you have the attention span of a goldfish, what I'm saying here is that 

I WON $300 IN A DRAWING FROM THE MISSOURI LOTTERY!

Which I will split 50/50 with The Pony.

There are six more weeks left of these weekly cash drawings. You can bet (Disclaimer: Val does NOT encourage gambling!) your bottom dollar that I will be scanning all my tickets during those six weeks.